Thought I'd share some photos of my Mother's Day gift this year. With two grown sons, I always come up with some manual labor project. We have a farm pond with a small island in the middle. We used to have a bridge to it but now don't. I would like to plant some grasses out there so decided a Tom Sawyer raft would fit the area well. Fun times:

Started with four 55 gallon drums. Scrapped together a frame and deck from old barn wood.


Dragged it down to the pond and plopped it in.


Yikes, first ride was extremely unstable, pulled back in for fine tuning.


Decided to fill the drums with water to stabilize, finished product (missing one plank where the blue shows).


Still a bit tippy (it's only about 4x6) but should be good for kids to play on, I can navigate it around and about, and might even be able to set a reclining lawn chair on it for hot summer days.

nice tractor

Looks like a fun day. I had a few project here as well but nothing like that.

After watching the boys' balancing acts, not sure how stable I will feel transporting my grasses out to the island, but that is the plan for the weekend. I have 4 gallon-size Miscanthus sinensis 'Graziella' that I picked up last fall on clearance ($3 each). They obviously won't get much hands-on attention, hoping they will settle in on their own and bully out the field grass. Also not sure if the island might be too damp, it is pocked with creature holes (weasels?). My tag calls for 'sandy and dry'. Hmmm.

you could throw a keel on it. Anyway good luck

Deb looks like a great project! How fun! They look like they're enjoying themselves!

I was thinking "outriggers". Like a small catamaran. .

Al;so, some way to sling the deck a little lower, but still above water level.

Very cool!

Corey, the boys thought about attaching some logs to either side for some stability...we'll see how it evolves. I haven't ventured out on it yet, although I do have some grasses that need to be put into the ground and an errant alder growing on the island that needs to be chopped down. Hopefully this weekend.

I hope you get some videos before they make it all stable and boring!